Flood of foreign investment into USA - According to statistics compiled by the Thomson Financial agency, acquisitions of US companies or equity investments by foreign groups, reached a record amount last year of $414.2bn. The 2000 record of $364bn was beaten but the acceleration was very sharp with a 90% rise in buyouts of US companies by other countries. Shares owned by foreign investors in mergers and acquisitions also reached new heights. Therefore, last year they grew to more than a...